The Kalatravaasa was a packed affair, jubilantly loud with a r-rated comedy hypnosis show taking place on the borrowed club's main stage. Everyone happily took in the sights, especially as it had a married couple pretending they were farm animals at different intervals, creating scenes of imagined bestiality and inter-special relations. How the couple moaned in animal sounds even got Mistress Alexis helplessly giggling from around the bar.

On duty as a chaperone for the Kalatravaasa operations that night, when she wasn't suppressing laughter, she kept a watchful eye on the crowd, and the staff she'd guided into a pliable state prior to the event. As the waitress brought her a drink, she thanked her and gave a beaming smile. The hypnotist's smile gave the waitress a flash of a shining pocket watch, and made her smile just as brightly back. She made sure every normal club employee felt good throughout the night, but also made sure that in their possibly vulnerable state, their awareness was heightened enough that they would notice if someone was trying to take advantage of them and seek immediate help.

With everything seemingly running smoothly, she took a sip of her cocktail. The aftertaste of was strong and sour enough to nearly knock her off her feet, Alexis gasped, wondering if she was on the verge of gasping on the drink, but she calmed herself to not draw attention. As the effect faded, she wondered why she was a little sleepy, when the waitress who delivered her drink asked for her help with someone who'd had too much to drink at the bar. A little on the burly side, looking quite confused himself, Alexis, the waitress helped the man walk towards an emptier part of the club, to an unused room where he could sleep it off. He was trying to say something, but the words came all garbled out. 

As he was set down in a chair, looking too drunk to even stand, Alexis realized well after the fact that someone had been trailing the three of them to the vacant room.

"Cris?"

"Hey Mistress."

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Had the night off, and knew you'd be working, so wanted to surprise you with a visit. But I found another surprise here too. Him," the short-haired blonde pointed at the drunkard.

"What about him?" Alexis asked, confused.

"I saw you in the crowd while everyone else was staring at the stage. But I noticed the guy behind you was looking right at you, and trying hard not to be noticed. That and how he stayed close to where the drinks were being made were huge red flags to me, so I stepped in and helped."

Turning her attention between Cris and the man whose attention she never knew she garnered, Alexis tried to piece together exactly what happened behind her back, and how she missed being targeted.

"Was he trying to drug me?"

"Yep, but with a little stealthy switcheroo, he was the one that got the sour cocktail. I'm so used to preventing spiked drinks at the 7th Seven, I've never turned it on a spiker like this. Kinda fun."

Alexis laughed and gave Cris a hug for her help.

"Such a good girl you are," Alexis smiled, feeling Cris melt into her words. Her smile increased as the waitress took the words as praise to brighten and deepen her trance; she stroked the waitress's face to genuinely extend the praise.

"T-thank you Mistress Alexis. What do you want to do about him?"

"Interrogate him for certain," she said, pulling out her pocket watch, gesturing to the waitress and Cris to stand at his side, to keep him from falling out of the armless chair. Observing him, she saw whatever drug in his system that was meant for her wasn't strong enough to fully incapacitate, but enough to keep him out of sorts. Taking a chance, she tugged at his thinning hair to pull his gaze towards the ceiling, or more specifically the pocket watch hanging above his head, making gentle circles his bleary eyes could still follow.

"Feel yourself following the watch, falling into relaxation. The watch spins, and you follow. The watch stirs your thoughts, and you let go. The watch spins your mind, and you feel pleasantly fixated. You can't look away, you don't want to look away, so you won't look away. Just follow the watch stirring you into obedience. Every swing makes you focus more on me, more on my words. Just nod your head yes if you understand, and obey my voice..."

Alexis' hand helped his agreement, shaking his head for him.

"Nod your head again if you understand."

Letting his hair go, she tested whether he would do so under his own volition, and it happened as she'd hoped. Silently waking Cris and the waitress who'd enjoyed the splash damage of her trance, Alexis wondered how she should conduct the interrogation.

"He looks like a professional, so he might not give up information as easily as I'd want. But..."

"But what? Cris questioned.

"Something about him says he's a really good subject. Like even in a drugged state, he's very comfortable in a trance state, and eager to follow orders, aren't you?" He nodded his head again.

"What's your name?"

".......B-bernard," he answered softly.

"Do you have a lot of trance experience?"

"...y-yesssss..." he answered, a smidgen of elation in his tone.

"And are you going to give up the information you don't want to give up to me easily when I ask you to?"

His head almost moved, but it stayed still, part of him fighting the probe for sensitive information.

"You know, I was hoping you'd answer that way, cause I have a fun idea..."

***

It was many compelling words from Mistress Alexis later when Bernard found himself on stage, aware and wondering how he got up there. A faded part of him knew he needed to be in the crowd, not exposed on the stage with a spotlight. He was supposed to drug and capture a hypnotist there. As his eyes gained focused he saw his target in the audience, smiling deeply at him with her arms crossed and her pocket watch hanging from her fingers.

There was a male hypnotist's voice saying something from somewhere behind him, but the meaning of the words only made sense as his mind interpreted them in Alexis' voice. The voice speaking, her voice, wanted him to behave as an animal, charging bull, looking for affection. He went through the embarrassing motions one at a time, unable to resist anything asked of him. The embarrassment stayed at the forefront of his mind, knowing the more he felt it, the more any barriers keeping sensitive information from Alexis would erode. Every animal sound he made, every move he made on all fours, tore away resistance and secrecy. 

The look on Alexis' face made him believe he was riding bull, trying to throw cowgirl Alexis off of him. But her suggestions held onto him easy, the mental thrashing in his defense slowing to total submission.

"And now for the finale, with the implicit consent of everyone on stage, who has ever seen a cow fuck a bull?"

Bernard's eyes widened as he turned to see a woman with a strap-on behind him...

***

A strained, stimulated physicality to match pried-open mental state, Bernard was back in the chair he started him, the smiling Alexis in the crowd loomed over him, watching his reaction closely. Inwardly, he wanted to cry. Outwardly, a small smile crept over his features, signaling his readiness to talk.

"Now, my obediently bullish Bernard, can you start by telling me who sent you to drug me?"

"Her name is...Dazzling..Lady..."